Love Hurts
by Alta1r
Summary: He was left alone, deserted by the honey blonde teen he loved so much. I'm bad at summaries. Contains AASL, Satosere, Amourshipping. NOTE: On a hiatus, am not sure when I can pick up this story to write again. Preferably sometime this year.
1. Chapter 1

A man stood silently at the peak of Mount Silver, flanked by a jackal-like Pokémon on his left side and a rodent on his right. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt, with black jeans and shoes and a black and white hat to top it all off. Normally, a person would need a jacket on Mount Silver as it was under extreme cold weather conditions, yet this 20 year old young man didn't seem fazed by the harsh winds and thick snow.

He was gazing intently into the distance, yet his mind seemed to have wandered off somewhere. The canine pokemon noticed this and sent a wave of soothing aura to break him out of his reverie, startling him.

"Are you alright master?"Lucario asked.

"Yes."

"You do seem a little…distracted. What were you pondering about?"

"That incident."

"Ah, I see." Lucario nodded. "But don't let that bother you. If they see you in your current state, they'll be surprised." Hearing this, Ash cracked a half smile.

"I suppose…"

 _Five years ago…_

 _Ash Ketchum had just finished the Kalos league as runner up. Sure, he'd lost to Alain in the finals, but he was happy that his team gave their all and fought to the end. His current travelling companions, the two blonde siblings Clemont and Bonnie, and Serena._

 _Serena._

 _Ash secretly had a crush on Serena but just couldn't bring up to her and told his two other companions about it to get it off his chest. They promised to keep it a secret and help him with it. Even though Ash was relieved, he still couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling that something bad was about to happen._

 _As he arrived at the front door, he stopped and took a deep breath, remembering all the good times he had with his companions. Going through hell and back, they understood each other very well and looked out for one another._

 _At least, that's what he thought._

 _He pushed open the door and was greeted by a colourful stream of ribbons._

" _Surprise!"_

 _All his old travelling companions were there. Brock, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Iris, Cilan and weirdly, Calem. Ash had goosebumps all of a sudden. He didn't like Calem's presence at all. His suspicions were confirmed when Calem strode over to Serena and hugged her. To make matters worse, she hugged back._

" _Hey."_

" _Hi Calem!"_

 _Ash felt a stab in his heart, but he still managed to keep his composure and not give anything away. However, when the duo walked out, Ash turned to Clemont._

" _Are they?..."_

" _Yeah. Yeah they are." Brock answered._

 _Ash felt sad, which was then quickly replaced with anger._

" _You all knew?" Suddenly, it seemed like everyone was interested with their feet._

" _How long?"_

" _Days…months." Clemont mentioned sorrowfully._

" _Come on Ash, move on. We all know that you can't accept the fact if we told you that she'd fall for Calem already. Calem's better for her than you anyway." Iris spoke up. Ash froze up and glared hard at her. Not surprisingly, everyone else backed her up._

" _Yeah."_

" _There's plenty of fish in the-"_

" _No. I don't care about that. You all knew, AND YOU DID'NT TELL ME?!" Ash eyes turned dark._

" _Ash, we-"_

" _Save your crap and shut it. From now onwards, Ash Ketchum is now dead, and the next time we meet, it'll be under less pleasant circumstances." Everyone felt a chill go down their spine. With these final words, Ash spun and walked away, leaving Pikachu in the room._

" _Pika pika chu pika pikachupi PIKAPI!" Pikachu was livid with everyone in the room, gesturing wildly and it seemed like he was actually cursing at them. Satisfied after his rant, the rodent ran out of the room to find his best friend._

 _Several moments later…_

 _Ash had told Professor Oak about the whole incident and he was sympathetic towards Ash. He gave Ash the permission to carry all his pokemon with him and decided to change his pokedex ID._

" _So… where to, Ash?" Professor Oak inquired._

" _Mount Silver. It's time I made my dream a reality. Tell my mom I won't be seeing her anytime soon. Do look out for her for me, yeah? I don't want her to do anything rash."_

" _No problem at all, Ash."_

" _Ash." He turned around to find a spiky-haired boy looking seriously at him. "Prove them wrong and show them, Serena made a wrong decision. And I expect a rematch when you're back." Ash smirked at the last part._

" _Sure thing."_

" _Now go forth." Professor Oak nodded encouragingly to him and Gary flashed him a thumbs up. Smiling, Ash hefted a pokeball as Pikachu climbed to his usual spot on Ash's left shoulder._

" _Charizard let's go!"_

 _Present_

"Pikapi!" Ash was broken out of his reverie one again again, this time by Pikachu, his faithful starter and best friend. He smiled and scratched the rodent's ears, earning a small 'chaaaa' squeal from the rodent. As he was doing so, he spotted a pidgeot from a distance. The pidgeot neared him and dropped a scroll into his hands.

"You're a messenger?"

He nodded. Ash slowly unrolled the paper. The paper was in bad condition due to the harsh icy wind. He glanced at the pidgeot. Though it stayed still, he sensed that it was uncomfortable and decided to make it feel warm.

"Charizard, can you warm pidgeot up in the cave?" Charizard grunted in affirmative and waved over to the pidgeot to join him. Ash turned back to the contents on the paper.

 _Dear Satoshi,_

 _You have been invited to join the Pokemon World Tournament held in two weeks time from now. It will be at Lumiose city. Do register at the nearest Pokecenter to confirm your attendance in this tournament. Champions, the elite fours and gym leaders are all participating. Do give it your best shot!_

 _Charles Goodshow_

 _-PS It was hell trying to track you down but I did it! Unfortunately, those 'friends' of yours are also coming. Do give Calem a good beatdown!_

 _~Scott_

Ash smirked and wrote a reply on the paper, before handing it over to pidgeot. As he soared away, Ash gathered all his pokemon recalled them except for Charizard and Pikachu. Jumping onto Charizard's back, Ash, Pikachu and Charizard flew off to the distance. Next stop, Lumiose city.

 _I've been waiting for this for too long, and now, it's time._

 **And that marks the end to the first chapter. Wew! I do hope that this was a good start to the story. Now, I have an important announcement to make. I will not be posting another chapter till late November as that is when my examinations end and I can work on this story full time. Until then, read review and give constructive criticism on how I can improve. Till next time!**

 **C00k33s**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Hey guys! I just watched Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale recently and it was pretty good, I'll recommend you guys to watch it. So I do apologise for how short the first chapter was. I'll try to make it from 3000-5000 words from now on. Anyway, this is chapter two, so do sit back and enjoy the story!**

A group of people was walking en route to Lumiose City, excited about the upcoming tournament. They were none other than Brock, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Drew, Stacey, Iris, Cilan, Clemont, Bonnie and Serena. Iris and Max were participating in the tournament and the rest of the group decided to come support them.

Iris was unnaturally excited. "Oh my, oh my, oh my! This is the time I show the full power of my dragon-type Pokémon!"

Max pumped his fist into the air. "I can't wait for the tournament to start! I'm sure to win this!"

Looking at Max, Serena broke into a melancholic smile. His attitude reminded her so much of the young Ash she knew she had came to love five years ago. She wondered about the tournament? Who would be battling? And would Ash participate in the tournament? Plus-

"Serena! Snap out of your daydream! We're here!" She was rudely shaken by May, who got an earful from Dawn. Shaking her head and letting out a sigh at their bickering for the unteempth time, she entered the lobby of the enormous building.

 _Earlier on…_

A young man in his early twenties stepped into the lobby of the participants' suite. He was dressed in black from head to toe and had a hoodie covering his hair and part of his face, but one look could tell that he had a muscular body with a handsome face then would make girls fight over him. His entrance made the other participants glance at him nervously then look away. Ignoring the whispering crowd, which was forming behind him, he strode to the counter.

"Hello, and what can I help you with today?" A bespectacled girl with auburn hair and professional clothes asked him from behind the counter.

"I'd like to sign up for this tournament." Man, when was the last time he had ever come into human contact with someone else? Oh…right. Five years.

"I see…may I take a look at you invitation letter?" The raven-haired teen promptly handed her. She checked the details with the computer. Satisfied, she turned to him.

"Now what name would you be entering in this tournament? Showing your true identity would not be preferred, yes?" She spoke the last part to him in a hushed tone.

"Satoshi will do."

"Alright. Here's your key to your suite. Don't forget to return it at the end of the tournament. Good luck and have fun in the upcoming tournament!" He nodded curtly and turned, instantly freezing up when he heard two familiar voices he dreaded.

"Hey Serena! It's been a long time see I last saw you, still looking as beautiful as ever."

"Hey…Calem. Long time no see."

Ash's eyes flared in anger. Sensing this, Lucario sent was of soothing aura to placate Ash, with Pikachu lightly tapping on his shoulder as a sign of encouragement. Ash calmed down and took a deep breath. He just couldn't

take it well, knowing fully well that Calem was once with Serena and that he wasn't the one. Ash had to escape this scene. Bad memories were hitting him fast and hard like a freight train. Then, a voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hey Satoshi."

He spun around to find three of his previous rivals: Gary, Paul and strangely, Alain. Alain gave him a knowing nod that he knew Ash's true identity. Knowing this, Ash relaxed, the tension slipping of his shoulders.

"Alain! What's up, man!"

Ash spied Calem approaching Alain and offering a taunting smile. "It'll be interesting battling you in the tournament…assuming you don't get knocked out in the earlier rounds." He laughed arrogantly and walked away.

"Leave him alone, come on let's check out the suite we got." Gary gently steered Alain away, with him still muttering profanities, with 'idiot' being one of the less harsh ones. As Ash followed the trio, he noticed Serena staring at him strangely. He faced her fully, gave her one of his coldest glares before stalking off.

"Who was that?" Serena wondered. _"He seemed so familiar…"_

-Line break-

In the room, Ash and the others gawked as they looked around. There was a gigantic living room with a refrigerator that had many different drinks. Pikachu instantly pounced on the ketchup sachets hiding in the corner, making Ash laugh. At his waist, one of his pokeballs burst open, revealing Mewtwo.

" _It does feel good being out of that tiny spherical object."_ Mewtwo stretched.

Ash chuckled. "You can stay out if you want." Sighing, he decided to go to the bathroom and freshen up.

-Line break-

He stepped out of the bathroom in a fresh set of clothes. After being away from civilization from so long, it was weird using a normal bathroom all over again. As he entered the living room, he saw Gary and Alain lounging on the comfy cushion chairs eating from bags of crisps and drinking soda. Paul, on the other end was watching the television closely.

"Who's your matchup?" He asked the other guys.

"Max." Gary said in a bored tone.

"Some random girl." Alain dumped another handful of crisps into his mouth.

"Ditto."

Ash shrugged and looked for his. When he finally found it, he paused, then gave a cold sinister smile.

"It's been a long night guys, we should retire early so we won't miss the matches tomorrow."

"Yeah." Giving the others a half wave, Ash retired to his room and instantly collapsed on his pillow, with Mewtwo taking the couch, Lucario on the other one and Pikachu taking up three quarters of the head pillow, Ash smirked and gently picked up his starter and shifted him slowly so as not to wake him and get a 'shocker' literally from Pikachu. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.

-Line break-

Meanwhile, in Hoenn, a temporary base was set up. Men were scurrying around completing tasks. They all had a 'R' symbol on their shirts. In the conference room, a man dressed in red and a man dressed in blue spoke.

"So Giovanni, what brings you here?" The said man lifted his head a smiled sinisterly at the duo.

"Well Archie and Max, I have devised a plan which I will execute during the tournament. This is a task which must be carried out carefully. I don't want to risk that Ketchum boy messing us again." He turned to the board. On it there were three ancient pokemon, one resembled a towering figure of a dinosaur, the other a whale, and finally a dragon in the middle.

"If all these goes to plan, by that time it would be too late for anyone to stop us."

-Line break-

The sun was shining brightly, showing on the beautiful scene of Lumiose City. The stadium was packed to the brim, with the group minus Iris and Max, who were off preparing for their first round. The atmosphere in the stadium was electrifying, combined with the tense feelings shared by all participants, well except for one in particular.

"Iris and Satoshi, please report to the entrances A and B for your first match." Satoshi instantly stood up and made his way to entrance A, with people parting the way for him, intimidated by him. Once he arrived, he was asked to stand on a platform started rising, taking him to the battlefield. On the other end, stood Iris, looking strong and proud with a Haxorus at her side.

" _Her Axew must have evolved into a Haxorus."_ Said Lucario, with Pikachu nodding underneath Ash's hood.

"This is a three-on-three battle between Satoshi and Iris! Trainers, send out your first Pokémon!" The referee raised his flags.

"I'll make this battle end quickly in my favor. Excadrill, go!" Iris threw out her pokeball, revealing a large mole-like pokemon with a large blade extending out his forehead, with two smaller similar looking blades at his sides resembling fins.

"Pidgeot, lend me your power!" Ash threw out his pokeball, instantly a majestic bird rose, soaring high. It had red outer feathers on its head with the inner feathers being yellow. It had a brown cream-coloured body as it spread out its wings, revealing it was rather bigger than a usual Pidgeot. Instantly, the specatators started cheering, but not as wildly as they did for Iris, muttering about Ash's poor choice, given that Excadrill was a part ground type and could learn rock type moves which were super effective against the likes of Pidgeot.

"Battle begin!" The referee threw both his flags down.

"Let's end this! Excadrill, Rock tomb on Pidgeot!" Iris thrust out her hand, with Excadrill summoning large rocks from the sky and proceeding to drop it on Pidgeot. However, Ash was merely disinterested, watching silently as the rocks fell.

"Too easy!" Iris smirked. Watching the battlefield expectantly, she waiting for the dust to clear and reveal an unconscious Pidgeot. However, when the dust settled, there was no sign of the normal-flying type. Spectators looked on in confusion.

"Aerial Ace."

The avian pokemon swept downwards and dealt a quick and forceful blow to Excadrill, surprising it and sending it reeling backwards. Though it wasn't a super effective move, much less a normal damage dealing move, Excadrill acted like it took a lot of damage. "Just how strong is his Pidgeot?" Iris was startled. Noticing her being thrown off guard, Ash took this opportunity to attack again.

"Now pick up Excadrill and throw him upwards." The majestic bird grabbed the drill pokemon with its claws and soared to a great height, before releasing to plumment to the ground.

"Brave bird!"

Instantly, the bird took a U-turn, started to glow a bright yellow and slamming into Excadrill with a greater force towards the ground, slamming into the ground with a loud bang and spreading a thick layer of dust around. Iris coughed and tried to wave the dust away, while Ash stood there without even flinching. Soon the dust settled, revealing a battered and unconscious Excadrill.

"Excadril is unable to battle! Trainer Iris, send out your next pokemon!" The stadium fell silent for a brief moment, before erupting into loud cheers. Iris returned her Pokémon, shaken. She had just lost her Excadrill to a Pidgeot who seemed to have a major disadvantage against her in the beginning. She couldn't lose, not in the first around. Slowly inhaling a shaky breath, she clutched her second pokeball and threw it forward. "Dragonite go!"

Ash considered for a moment, withdrawing his Pidgeot and muttering words of praise. He then tossed his second pokeball silently, revealing a crocodile-like pokemon with a maroon coloured body and a white stomach. Strangely enough, this Krookodile seemed to have a pair of sunglasses, which went well with the rest of him.

Iris' eyes widened. Another Krookodile to mess up her chances of winning this battle? Shaking off her thoughts in the battle in Unova last time, she refocused on the battle. Before she spoke, he cut her off.

"Dragon claw."

Instantly, the intimidate Pokémon dashed forward with two dark claws and slashed against Dragonite's chest, causing the dragon to stagger backwards and faint instantly. Again, the spectators were stunned. One hit KO? This was definitely an entertaining battle.

Iris wordlessly withdrew Dragonite and gave her Haxorus a nod. The axe jaw pokemon instantly jumped forward, roaring loudly as it did so. Ash wasn't fazed and calmly withdrew Krookodile. Palming his third pokeball, he threw it out. Instantly, a shiny, bipedal humanoid Pokémon appeared. She appeared to be wearing a white gown and had a masquerade mask on its face. It was a shiny Gardevoir. The audience roared, having one of the rare occasions to see such a special kind of Pokémon.

Iris glared at Ash. She yelled, "Haxorus, draco meteor, full power!" The might dragon gave a big roar, before gathering energy in its mouth and proceeded to shoot a fiery ball into the sky, which separated into tiny spheres of rocks falling everywhere. Ash however, wasn't disturbed in the slightest and even smirked as he watched Gardevoir take the attack.

"What's he thinking? Is he an idiot?" Iris wondered.

As the draco meteor attack ended, Gardervoir still stood at the same exact spot, looking the same as she was before. If you looked closely at her face, you could actually see a look of disbelief on her face saying "Really? That's all you got?" Ash smirked and issued a command, "Gardevoir, psychic on Haxorus and throw him into the air." The feelings Pokémon nodded and concentrated, having a pinkish ray surround the axe jaw Pokémon and it started rising upwards rapidly.

"Throw it downwards and fire a moonblast." A bright pinkish sphere hovered in the air before flying towards the falling dragon-type. Iris' eyes widened. No wonder Gardevoir didn't take any damage! It was part fairy-type Pokémon, which were immune to dragon type moves. Cursing herself for forgetting that important factor, she could only watch helplessly as Haxorus took the full damage from the super effective move. The dust cleared to reveal a battered Haxorus.

"Haxorus is unable to battle! Therefore, Iris is unable to battle and Satoshi is the winner for this battle!" The spectators roared in approval at Ash, who merely nodded, recalled his Pokémon and walked away Lucario and Pikachu in tow, ignoring the screams coming from the stands. It was definitely weird listening to all this after not associating with anyone for 5 years. Iris fell to her knees, stunned. She had just been kicked out of her first round and clearly she didn't expect this.

-Line break-

Serena sighed as she impatiently waited for the battle between Iris and Satoshi to start. To be honest, she'd lost all interest in Pokémon battles as that just merely reminded her of Ash, the boy she'd betrayed all these years ago.

She watched with disinterest as Iris fought against the man in the hood and her interest slightly peaked when she saw Iris' team got swept completely by a random stranger. She knew Iris long enough to know that she was no pushover and that she was a tough trainer, however all that changed when she saw her completely defeated. One hit KOs? She shuddered at the thought of his power.

"Serena, you wanna hang out with me and grab a bite?" There he was again, Calem was wrapping his arm around her shoulder and smiling broadly as if he didn't break her heart four years ago. Before she had a chance to react, Brock was at her side, grabbing Calem by the collar.

"Watch it pretty boy, don't go near her again and ruin her life. If I see you approaching us again, I'll give you a good beating." As he released the Kalos native onto the ground, he took one last fleeting glance at Serena before running off.

She sighed gratefully at Brock. To her, he was like the protective elder brother she never had, being the only child in the family. "Thanks Brock." She smiled warmly. "Anything for my younger sister, I just hope you stay safe." He assured her.

-Line break-

Ash, Alain, Gary and Paul were lounging in the living room of the participants' suite. They had all finished their battles for the day. Their opponents were no match for their immense power, even Max who was humiliated by Gary as he lost his Gallade to Gary's umbreon, despite having an advantage as Gallade could learn fighting type moves which were super effective against the likes of Umbreon. Alain fumbled for the remote and switched channels to find out the updates of the upcoming matches.

"Any interesting people today?" Ash frowned at this question and concentrated hard before replying, "I do remember one guy who had a Persian who swept an opponents' team single handedly. What was his name…"

"Sakaki." Mewtwo glanced at Ash. "His Persian is strong, no doubt, but what I do worry is that I pried into his mind and all I could sense were evil thoughts."

" _Indeed, he radiated a strong impure aura."_ Lucario said thoughtfully.

Taking note of this information, Ash nodded and suddenly gave a toothy yawn, muttering something about needing more sleep. "Honestly Ash, the amount of sleep you need rivals how much food you inhale." Teased Gary.

"Yeah whatever."

Flopping onto the bed with a loud sigh, he startled the electric rodent sleeping peacefully and earning himself a thundershock. Then he heard a snap and to his horror, Gary was holding his cell phone.

"My, what a nice picture to send out to –"

No sooner than he said that Ash was already up on his feet and chasing Gary around the living room with Alain and Paul shaking their heads in amusement. As they saw Ash tackle Gary to the ground, Paul yawned. "After all this time you'd think he matured."

Alain simply muttered and agreement as the duo continued to wrestle for the phone on the floor.

 **Author's note: And that's it for this chapter. If possible, do give constructive comments; reviews on how I can do better. Until then, I'll not be able to keep a constant posting schedule as my word still stand from chapter 1.**

 **c00k33s**


	3. Chapter 3

Ash dreamt that he was sprinting through Lumiose city on his own, taking in all the beautiful sights that were displayed before him: the smell of freshly baked pastry, the myriad colours of the greenery, the roar of the oncoming traffic and the smiles of the people. Despite all of that, he remained frowning and hurried on. If his prediction was correct, the peaceful scenery was about to change in a matter of seconds.

As if on cue, a building nearby exploded into bits of rubble, hit by an unknown projectile. People started screaming and running away for their lives. Car tyres screeched as drivers attempted to steer to safety. Trees were on fire and burning quickly, releasing large amounts of thick, black smoke into the air. Ash coughed and swept the smoke from his eyes, revealing the same scene that he had always dreamt of. Cars were flipped, with some sirens still ringing, most the buildings were reduced to rubble and many injured people were lying on the ground, struggling to move. However, in the midst of this chaos, one single person remained standing upright.

The mysterious figure was clad in dark blue armor from chest to toe, with the center of his chest protruding out. Crimson red lines were formed on the armor. His shoulder and arms had small sharp edges sticking out. His boots were sharp and pointy. What really stood out was that instead of a helmet, his head was covered with a hood. That didn't matter to Ash as he noticed that under the robe was a set of glowing dark red eyes, staring directly at the raven-haired trainer. Before he had a chance to react, the figure leapt to where he was standing and held a razor-sharp katana, pointing it at his throat. The figure whispered, " If he does not kill you first, your power will."

Hurriedly sitting up on his bed, Ash took a quick look at his surroundings, which seemed fine to him. Slipping into his shoes, he let out a frustrated sigh. What the heck was that all about? He had dreamt the same scene multiple times now and to be frank, it did scare him.

He also vaguely recalled Lucario telling him, " _Dreams are insights into the future,"_ or something along those lines. If that were true, a major event would happen sometime soon.

 _-Line Break-_

" _Focus on building a chest plate armor for now. Imagine the armor you would want to wear."_ Ash was currently doing aura practice with Lucario deep in a forest not to far off Lumiose city, away from the hustle and bustle and the prying eyes of the media, who were desperately trying to get an exclusive coverage for his battle with Iris.

The raven-haired trainer closed his eyes and thought hard. Although he didn't voice out loud, Ash was actually getting excited by the minute at the prospect of donning on 'cool' looking armor and going head-on in a battle against an unknown enemy.

The Aura Pokémon standing beside him sensed Ash's inner child awakening and clapped lightly to get his attention. _"After all these years, you're still a kid inside aren't you?"_ Lucario smirked.

"Ah, shut up." Ash lightly smacked Lucario on the head, chuckling as he did so. "Back to training."

An hour later, Ash was perspiring profusely and his concentration was waning by the minute. Although he managed to successfully create armor out of aura, it strangely resembled the one the stranger was wearing in his dream. Even Lucario took a long hard look at the armor he'd created and muttered, " _It's somewhat off but looks almost exactly like the real one."_ Still, his creation was not complete as he still lacked a helmet. Ash shrugged and decided he'd use a hood as a temporary substitute.

Moving on, Ash prepared to do swordplay practice with Lucario and Mewtwo. The Aura user closed his eyes, withdrew his right hand to the left side of his waist and seemingly out of nowhere, pulled out a katana and got into a stance. The katana he wielded was long and slender, with one sharp edge. Ash was proud of himself for being able to summon the katana when needed. When he first started, he'd pulled out a butter knife, much to the amusement of his Pokémon. It took him a month to be finally stopped being teased by everyone, but some still cheekily brought it up from time to time, annoying him.

Charging towards Lucario and Mewtwo, Ash trailed his sword behind him to reduce friction. Noticing the oncoming multiple aura spheres fired rapidly by both Pokémon, Ash twisted the blade sideways and slashed across the first projectile before proceeding to somersault over the following shots. He attempted to close the gap between him and Lucario, hoping to take the Aura Pokémon out before fighting against Mewtwo. Switching gear, Lucario stopped firing and his claws grew blinding white. He leapt forward and started to engage Ash on close combat while Mewtwo kept firing quick shots at Ash to make him lose focus. The duo was engaged in a fierce fight. Lucario attempted disarm Ash by catching his katana in between his claws, twisting it sideways and forcing him to drop his weapon. He merely smiled as the katana stuck between Lucario's claws dissolved into tiny blue fragments and reappeared in his hand again.

While practicing summoning his katana with his aura, Ash picked up a new skill along the way. He'd realized that should he lose his weapon halfway through the fight, all he needed to do was to break his connection to the current weapon and concentrate to reform it again.

Changing tactics, Lucario fired an Aura sphere into the ground, covering the air around them in a thick layer of dust and dirt. Despite this, Ash remained alert, standing still and observing his surroundings, preparing himself for any sudden attack. Before the dust cleared, two silhouettes jumped at Ash, one from the front and the other from the back. Dodging the last minute, Ash immediately turned around, swept one off balance and knocked the other back a few metres to give him space. He groaned as his two best fighting Pokémon were up against him: Infernape and Heracross.

"This isn't a fair fight." Ash glared pointedly at the duo, to which Lucario shrugged. _"Your enemies aren't going to play fair either in battle."_

"Fair point." Ash lifted his katana upright again, ready to go for another round.

 _-Line Break-_

The battle ended in an amusing fashion, with Ash using Heracross' weakness to his own advantage: Sap. During the battle, when Heracross attempted to use megahorn, Ash met it head on and deflected the attack into the tree, leaving a hole and a beautiful sight of tree sap. This baited Heracross to the sap, effectively ending the battle in Ash's favour. At that point, he decided to call it a day there and headed back to the room to freshen up, unaware of a pair of eyes watching him closely.

"Now I've got you in my sights, Aura Knight."

Ash decided to take the rest of the day off, as there were no expected tournament battles being held. As he lounged on the sofa, he quickly did a mental checklist. Gary and Paul were doing some battling practice in a private area; Alain and Mairin were visiting Professor Syacamore at his lab. From what Ash remembered, the trio wouldn't be back till nighttime, so he still had some free time to do more training in the night against his Pokémon. Suiting up, he gathered his Pokéballs and headed off to the forest again with Lucario and Mewtwo trailing behind.

While looking for a deserted area to train in the forest, Ash picked up a muffled noise and gestured to the duo behind him to back down. From his hiding spot, the Aura guardian spotted a broad jet-black aircraft descending downwards from the sky, landing with minimal noise. The back of the aircraft opened, revealing two grunts escorting someone strapped on to a chair.

Those two grunts obviously belonged to Team Magma, but something different that Ash noticed was that although they were grunts, they had a standard military uniform and were holding assault rifles.

"I don't get it." Ash muttered as the soldiers bypassed him. "Since when did they even get guns and armour?"

Lucario responded, _"They have definitely became more of a threat from the past. Even if they are grunts, they stand a higher chance of killing you now."_

"Great. And I was hoping they'd be punching bags for me."

Ash watched as the soldiers escorted the chair towards a seemingly empty space. Walking around, one of the soldiers suddenly stooped downwards and swiped a card across that area. Suddenly, a large patch of earth seemingly caved in, revealing an entrance. As the soldiers entered the underground base, the raven-haired trainer and the others slipped in.

"We'll follow these two until we know their objective."

" _Understood. What about the hostage?"_

"Take whoever that person is. Don't leave them behind."

Their voices were soon drowned out by the grunts.

"What's with capturing and bringing this hostage here? What does he plan to do to her?"

 _Her?_ Ash wondered silently.

"He's probably got plans for her. Something about a bargaining chip? Also, I overhead him saying something about 'crushing his soul'. Sounds like the Shadow knight's got a personal vendetta against this target."

"Huh. Anyway, what's gonna happen within the next few days?"

"We shouldn't discuss our plan here right? Not especially when there's intruders near us…" Ash stiffened when the duo turned in their direction. "Call for backup."

Having no choice, the Aura guardian mouthed to Lucario: _attack_.

Springing into action, Ash sent one guard sprawling with a hard blow to the head and Lucario took out the other guard. Mewtwo undid the straps, releasing the hostage. Throwing a quick glance at a hostage, Ash confirmed, "She's unconscious at the moment… wait…"

Ash again stared at the hostage, stunned and unable to speak. Lucario also recognized the hostage and drew in a sharp breath.

"It can't be…"

There was no doubt about that. The blue ribbon, often seen in her outfit his adventures, still remained on her current outfit.

He was staring at an unconscious Serena.

 _-Line Break-_

"This seriously messes things up." Ash shouted as he hoisted Serena on his back and sprinting towards the exit, with Lucario and Mewtwo by his side. "Why is she here?"

" _Now's not the time for questions."_ Lucario snapped at him as they burst out of the exit running. _"We need to get out of here first. It's still not safe here."_

Ash was getting frustrated and confused. He had originally planned to gather intel there, only to end up being discovered by grunts (the lowest of the lowest…really?) and escaping with Serena on his back. None of these made sense to him. What did Team Magma plan on doing? What was Serena doing there? How was she related to all this?

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a sudden puff of smoke before him, obscuring his vision and disorientating him. Coughing and swiping away the smoke, it revealed that they were currently in another open field.

" _This… is weird. There's no one chasing after us at all. It's too quiet."_ Ash stood up and scanned his surroundings, suddenly hearing these next few words:

"Now I've got you where I want, Aura knight."

Milliseconds later, a figure clad in black sped towards Ash and slashed upwards. Reacting instantly, Ash summoned his katana and parried his blow, flying back a few metres after the attack. Lucario and Mewtwo attempted to help Ash, but he gestured for them to stay put. The message was loud and clear: he would handle the fight on his own.

The attacker stood up. He was clad in black from head to toe, his helmet having a 'V' shape on it to see through and his armour was radiating black smoke. He also wielded two crimson red swords.

"Let me guess, you work for Team Magma don't you."

The Shadow knight stared at him before letting out a low chuckle. His helmet must have contained a voice changer or sorts, since his voice was distorted. "Wrong, Aura knight. Or should I say, Ash Ketchum?"

Ash's eyes widened. Very few people knew about his current state, so how did this stranger before him know?

"Escaping to Mount Silver to train for a number of years…let's see if you've even improved at all." The Shadow knight pointed his sword at Ash.

"Bring it on." Ash lifted his katana and got into a stance ready to attack.

The two knights stared at each other before suddenly disappearing, only to reappear at random areas of the field. It was a blur flurry of swords clashing against one another repeatedly. Ash was surprised at the Shadow knight's swordsmanship. He was particularly adept at wielding two swords and didn't seem to have an opening at all. He was the same, if not better than Ash. Needing some breathing space, Ash backed off, giving the Shadow knight to close the gap and slash at his right leg, leaving a large gaping wound.

"Who are you? What are you planning?" Ash demanded.

"Shadow knight will do. You see Ketchum, what's going down within the next few days is nothing of your concern. As you saw, even the grunts have improved greatly from the past. With military equipment and weapons, they're a force to be reckoned with. You alone don't stand a chance against one organization, let alone three."

"Three?" Ash clenched his fists.

"Oh, I forgot to mention." The Shadow knight laughed menacingly. "Team Magma, Team Aqua and Team Rocket are working together on this project. I care nothing for this event, but they had offered me something in return. Something so wonderful… that I will never refuse."

In the distance, police sirens were heard. The Shadow knight sheathed one sword and turned to Ash. "Beating you right now would be too easy, honestly, but I'll keep you alive and kicking for now. I'll kill you slowly, so as you die, you can watch your 'friends' die and as for her," he pointed towards Serena, "Well, I'll keep her alive for myself. She'll be treated…well." He threw his head back and laughed.

"I'll crush you right here right now. I'll make you so weak that you won't be able to touch her." Ash drew his katana and pointed at the Shadow knight. Suddenly, his right leg buckled and Ash dropped his left knee.

"That fight just now was just a simple demonstration of what I can do." Blood was flowing out his right leg profusely and the Aura trainer started to feel dizzy. "You're as weak as before, being the hotshot wannabe Pokémon master. I'll see you sometime soon." Sweeping his sword upwards, black smoke covered where he was standing, and he disappeared.

"The Shadow knight… he knows too much about me… he must be stopped…" Ash lost consciousness and drifted off to sleep.

 **Note: I have changed my name from c00k33s to Alta1r. (Yes I know it's a lame username.)**

 **Just for visualization purposes, Ash's armour is based off Takeru's armour, Lapis, from the anime Taimadou Gakuen Shiken Shoutai. The Shadow knight's armour is based off Berserker from Fate Zero.**

 **And that's it for now. Right now, I have a request.**

 **From now till the end of the tournament, I would appreciate some suggestions or ideas on what I can write. After a long time, trying to write again really is a difficult task. Often I find myself typing, deleting and typing again. The cycle repeats.**

 **Also, I feel that my story is lacking in certain parts. For example, I feel that each chapter is somewhat short with 2500+ words only, and for that I apologise. I am terrible at writing long chapters. In addition, I'll being going on a holiday two weeks from now, so I'm unsure if I'm able to write another chapter by then. Please don't flame me if I'm unable to!**

 **Another thing I noticed that my descriptions of things like scenery, armour, weapons and people are quite badly detailed (in my opinion) so I'll try to improve by the next chapter.**

 **Again, thank you all so much for the feedback the previous chapter (although it was so long ago XD). For now, I look forward to your reviews. Constructive feedbacks are welcome, and until then, take care!**


	4. Apologies

Firstly, I'd like to apologise. This isn't a new chapter (although I made you all wait for a month). Basically what happened was that when I was clearing out old files yesterday, I made a mistake of deleting my latest chapter (which was extremely stupid of me). I only discovered it today when I tried to open the file and continue writing. I hope you can forgive me for this. However, since school has started for me, writing would become an issue to keep up with so my next chapter would be posted 3-4 weeks from now. Again, I am extremely sorry for this.

Alta1r


End file.
